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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (30330)	10/24/2006 5:35:05 PM
From: TimF	Respond to of 541472

whether you agree with the numbers or not, this is an interesting way to rate the world press: Since the page doesn't actually supply the methodology it would be hard to know if it was interesting or not. Perhaps you find the results interesting. A link of the page gives some information, but not a lot of detail. Any study that ranks the us as 53rd on press freedom strikes me more as bogus than interesting. The justification they give for it - "Relations between the media and the Bush administration sharply deteriorated after the president used the pretext of “national security” to regard as suspicious any journalist who questioned his “war on terrorism.” The zeal of federal courts which, unlike those in 33 US states, refuse to recognise the media’s right not to reveal its sources, even threatens journalists whose investigations have no connection at all with terrorism." Is rather undeveloped. The administration supposedly regards anti-war journalists as suspicious. Even if true, that doesn't say that the administration is actually doing anything to the journalists. This is supposed to be a ranking of press freedom, not press relationships with the government. The one specific they do give is protection of sources. Quite a few countries above the US in this ranking have no legal right for the press to not report on sources. And when the source has committed a crime, it could be argued that not having to report on the source is a special privilege for the press rather than a right. Even if you assume that the press should have this privilege, or even has it as a natural right, or should have it as a legal right, the lack of a federal law or federal court decision creating such a legal right seems a flimsy reason to rank the US so low. They ranked Mozambique above the US. From a report about civil liberty in Mozambique - "The constitution provides for media freedom, but the state controls nearly all broadcast media and owns or influences the largest newspapers... ...Criminal libel laws deter open expression. The more than a dozen licensed private radio and television stations exercise some self-censorship. The opposition receives inadequate coverage in state-run media, especially radio and television..." Another country ranked higher than the US - Serbia and Montenegro "During the state of emergency imposed after Djindjic's assassination on March 12, 2003, many journalists and media watchdog groups criticized the government for going too far in censoring coverage of the government's crackdown on organized crime groups. In Montenegro, the publisher of a major opposition daily highly critical of the government, Dusko Jovanovic, was assassinated in May. Although the investigation into Jovanovic's death is ongoing, one person arrested in connection with the murder claimed that he has ties to Montenegro's security services. Libel remains a criminal offense in Serbia punishable by up to six months imprisonment; media advocacy groups continued to call for libel to be decriminalized in 2004. In Montenegro as well, libel remains a criminal offense, but punishable by fines rather than prison terms. During the course of 2004, the Kostunica government drafted, and the Serbian National Assembly passed, a Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance, although the OSCE has stated that improvements still need to be made to the law as it is now written. " A country they rated equal to the US - Croatia - "Journalistic freedom also remains weak; in a 2003 survey, half of the journalists questioned claimed that they do not feel free in their work. The penal code still allows for prison sentences for journalists found guilty of defamation and libel." Or a country ranked only slightly worse than the US - Central African Republic " Broadcast media are dominated by the state, but there are several independent newspapers. The only licensed private radio stations are music- or religion-oriented, although some carry programming on human rights and peace-building issues. Legislation enacted in 1998 rescinded the government's authority to censor the press, but authorities have occasionally been restrictive and have used draconian criminal libel laws to prosecute journalists. Several journalists fled the country following the May 2001 coup attempt; some journalists were tortured. The government does not restrict Internet access. Despite promises by Bozize to respect press freedom and decriminalize media laws, several journalists were jailed in 2004 for slander. In March, a court sentenced Jude Zosse, publisher of the privately owned newspaper L'Hirondelle, to six months in prison for slandering Bozize by calling him a "state tax-collector." Zosse was released under a presidential pardon after serving two months of his sentence. On July 8, Maka Gbossokotto, publisher of the daily newspaper Le Citoyen, was arrested after Jean-Serge Wanfio, a relative of Bozize's and head of the state-owned electricity company, filed a court complaint. After more than a month of pretrial detention, Gbossokotto received a one-year suspended sentence and $1,000 fine for "publicly insulting" the official in an article that alleged misappropriation of funds... ...Corruption, political interference, and lack of training hinder the efficiency and impartiality of judicial institutions. Limitations on searches and detention are often ignored. Conditions for prisoners, including many long-term pretrial detainees, are extremely difficult and sometimes life threatening. Juveniles are not separated from adults. Police brutality is also a serious problem, and security forces act with impunity..." freedomhouse.org